Martial arts gives confidence; and provides self protection

"Everyone should have some basic self-defense training,” Brice said Tuesday at his own school, Anthony Brice Academy, off the U.S. Highway 49 Bypass adjacent to the Phillips County Health Department.

Brice and his wife, Billie June Brice, who has been into martial arts for 23 years, presented some of their students – from pre-school to middle-aged – for friends and family members.

Larry Binz

Anthony Brice grew up in a self-described “very rough neighborhood” in Fresno, Calif. He got interested into martial arts, among other reasons, for self-protection.
For the past 33 years he has instructed thousands of individuals from law enforcement to the everyday housewife.
“Everyone should have some basic self-defense training,” Brice said Tuesday at his own school, Anthony Brice Academy, off the U.S. Highway 49 Bypass adjacent to the Phillips County Health Department.
Brice and his wife, Billie June Brice, who has been into martial arts for 23 years, presented some of their students – from pre-school to middle-aged – for friends and family members.
After Billie June effectively slam-dunked Brice, he got up and told the audience that being prepared is the best defense from personal attack.
“When you face someone who is threatening your life calling 911 may not be good enough,” Brice said. “By the time a police officer arrives you could be seriously hurt or dead.”
Brice drew some of his own experiences as an instructor to illustrate a point.
“I saw a woman three days after she had to use her martial arts training that probably saved her life,” Brice said.
Brice said the woman told him she and her fiance had gotten separated during a skiing trip to Yosemite.
“She said she saw two guys at the ski lodge who offered to help her out,” Brice said. He said the woman realized the two men were going the wrong direction in their Sports Utility Vehicle.
“One went in their car for beer and the other stayed,” Brice related. “The woman said the man left behind reached in her car and grabbed the car keys.”
Brice said the woman told him she instinctively reacted by hitting the man in the nose with the palm of one hand.
“She told me the man dropped the keys and he fell to the ground,” Brice said. “She took the keys and fled in her car.”
The drills that the Brice couple put students through Tuesday night included the stance of a lion with hands fixed like the paws of the animal; an X-kick and power punch.
Jim Lang, a retired Navy veteran whose service included Desert Storm aboard an aircraft, is an assistant instructor at the academy.
Lang and long-time Helenian Jerry Henry, who is undergoing martial arts training, work at Brickey’s.
Brice said the term martial arts was coined by the military in the 1920s.
The academy will hold its summer camp July 1-3 at 5-7 p.m. for youth ages 3-16.